The Running-Back Attack

I am implementing a new bankroll growth plan. I thought of a football analogy. Often in poker, no-limit cash game play resembles an aggressive passing attack in football. Players often take higher-risk shots at big money, like a long bomb that has a lower chance of completion but a higher reward in terms of yardage. Most poker players, by their nature, are always striving for the quick, big score. It’s the American way, right?

On the other hand, there is the running attack in football. If you have a rock-solid running back that can pound out an average of 3.5 yards per carry, you can slowly march down the field, wear down the opponent, and punch it in for the score.

It has occurred to me that the best way to build a bankroll in cash games is through a series of slow, steady, lower-risk winning sessions, like a steady ground game in football, rather than shoot-the-moon attempts to double up each session like a long passing attack. The passing attack is more exciting, but a solid running game can be just as effective with lower risk.

I think my play is more suited to a running game. A slow, steady march, built on tight hand selection and aggressive play when I am ahead. I am still very willing to use the passing attack and get all my chips in the pot when I am ahead, if the situation calls for it, but that puts me at higher risk if my opponent outdraws me. I’m otherwise content with solid running game in the form of winning a succession of smaller pots at lower risk.

So, how can I put this “running game” strategy into play? Here’s how: win exactly 1% of my total overall bankroll in each session. One “level” in the progression is however long it takes to win 1% of my bankroll. On-line, this means knowing the next 1% benchmark when I sit down, and leaving the table when I hit that benchmark (actually, play the current orbit until just before the BB hits again), thereby locking in the 1% profit. If I sit at a table with a buy-in that is roughly 5% of my total bankroll, I’ll need to win roughly 1/5 of my starting stack to hit the 1% goal for the session. Not so hard to achieve if I’m playing a solid game. Leaving the table after I hit the next benchmark level locks in the profit and moves me up the ladder. Then I buy in to another table where the players do not have a read on my playing style, and repeat.

I’ve run a spreadsheet that shows the progression of bankroll growth by simply winning 1% each time. Although 1% at $40 and $50 chunks does not seem like much, its amazing how fast the bankroll grows with this progression. If you start with a $1,800 bankroll, for example, after 35 levels you will have doubled to over $3,600. After 50 levels, you will have over $4,800. After 100 sessions, you will have over $13,000.

The approach is that you are playing a lower risk strategy because you take the profit off the table after hitting the benchmark. This is ideally suited for on-line play, because jumping around on the tables is so easy. There’s an argument to be made that leaving after a modest win prevents you from making a big hit and doubling or tripling up. Its always possible to hit a big hand at any time and jump up several levels in the progression. If I’m sitting at a very good table with obvious fish or LAGs just waiting to be picked off, I will keep playing after I hit the next 1% benchmark to take advantage of the situation.

Although this strategy might seem ideally suited for limit games, I think its actually better suited for NL play because there is lower variance in NL. You can control the pot size, price out drawing hands, etc., and I’m much better at NL than limit. But it can work either way.

I’ve already put this strategy into play for 10 days. I’m through 19 levels and up over $800, with 11 winning sessions and 3 losing sessions (some of the “sessions” have been jumps in multiple levels). I’m playing roughly the same game, but I’m playing tighter, more aggressive, and I’m making better laydowns. Sessions of $40 and $50 wins add up nicely – no single session is a huge win (unless I hit a couple successive big hands), but I’m posting a lot more winning sessions.

Unless I’m hitting cold cards or tired and playing poorly, I can complete several levels in the span of a few hours of play (open 2 tables, complete a level, close that table and open another, repeat, repeat). The structure that I’m adding to my game may just be an illusion, but it gives me more focus each time I play, because there is a very specific goal for each session -- hit the next level. Each time I leave a table, I’ve progressed a level, which feels like a small, but important, accomplishment. For me, achieving a series of mini-goals and measuring the progress step-by-step is better than just playing, and its more fun. It’s the cure for those players that lament “Cash games are boring because I’m just playing hand after hand.” The progression in levels breaks up any monotony.

I’m a goal-oriented person, and this may just be what I need to make more steady progress and build up a bankroll to pay for some more trips and buy into some bigger live games and tournaments.